Safety lock



June 19, 1956 A. SOLER cAPDEvlLA 2,750,787

' SAFETY LOCK 2 sheets-sheet 1 v Filed D60. 5, 1951 nvo'niak #ta-*he I, s.

June 19, 1956 A. SOLER CAPDEVILA 2,750,787

SAFETY LOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Deo. 5, 1951 SAFETY LOCK Antonio Soler Capdevila, Barcelona, Spain Application December 3, 1951, Serial No. 259,521 Claims priority, application Spain December 6, 1950 4 Claims. (Cl. 70-337) This invention relates to a new type of lock which has inside wards to control or block the motion of a lock bolt and in particular to a lock with a new type of key which increases the safety of the lock and the easiness of its operation.

The lock according the invention is used in combination with well known systems of latches independently operated by means of a handle, handwheel, etc., so that these latches remain blocked when the lock is in the fastened position and free or unblocked when the lock is in the unfastened position.

The improved lock according to this invention comprises a convenient lock casing, a series of Wards formed by parallel plates placed in the direction of perpendicular planes to the front wall of the lock, these wards being hinged on an axle parallel to said wall, preferably in their bottom ends and extending themselves in a direction substantially vertical. Said wards, on the part opposite to the hinge pin or its upper part, have a straight or slightly curved edge, on which rests an edge or rib of a sliding plate, applied transversally against said edges, these wards being provided with grooves diversely placed in each plate, and combining this device, with a flat key constituted by a plain metal piece having a width corresponding to the width of all the adjacent wards, this key having in one of its ends, a series of grooves which form a number of projecting teeth in correspondence with the respective wards, each tooth projecting to a different extent and said key being used to press the wardsy on their lateral front edge, which produces the oscillation of the wards on their pin each one being displaced a magnitude corresponding to the position of the respective tooth and placed in a position in which the notches of all the wards are aligned, then allowing the displacement by gravity or by other means of the sliding plate which, in its turn is provided with a blocking member that leaves'the lock bolt free so that it can be operated in any convenient way. The key operates by simple pressure without any turn or rotation of same. Each of the wards is under the action of a small spring plate which tends to turn them against the front plate of the lock.

In the preferred form of manufacture, the sliding or blocking plate is placed vertically and the Wards swivel also in transversal vertical planes under said plate.

In the front plate of the casing and in front of the edge of the wards is provided a guide piece with a rectangular opening through which the aforementioned iiat key may be inserted; this key, as explained above, has an end provided with as many longitudinal protruding teeth or inwardly cut notches as there are of wards, these teeth or notches being of diierent extention or depth, in correspondence with the position of the notches of each one of the wards, by which, simply pressing the key inwards, each tooth pushes a ward, displacing it a diierent magnitude and producing the alignment of the notches in a same plane.

rates Patent O y" vor 2,750,787 Patented June 19, 1956 ICC which is normally supported by the upper edge of the Wards, and the displacement of said blocking plate, in its turn, allows Ithe operation of the lock bolts by means of an independent handle or by any other suitable arrangement.

If the lock should be mounted inclosed in the door frame or on the back side of same, it is provided with a guide of suiiicient length and in order to use a relatively short key said guide contains a rectangular hole housing a row of parallel plates of the same thickness and in the same number as the wards, said plates remaining between the key notches and each one of the wards and serving to convey to the respective wards the displacement produced by the insertion and pressure of the key.

This system of lock can be adapted to be opera-ted from either side of the door. In such a case each ward extends in opposite directions from a rocking axle, thus forming a double arm ward with a lower lateral edge symmetrical to the upper lateral edge. In addition, the rear wall of the lock casing is provided with a second keyhole in front of the lower lateral edge of the wards, permitting the introduction of the key, in an` inverted position through said rear wall and thereby causing actuation of the lock.

Thus, the wards can be operated from both sides of the lock and, in both cases, once the blocking plate is dropped, the lock bolts may be operated by means of handles, levers or other suitable mechanisms.

v In said case the handles are placed in such a way that they allow the opening of the lock from the inside whenever it is necessary without the necessity of inserting the key but, on the other hand, from the outside it shall always be necessary to insert the key to be able to operate the handles.

Finally, this system of lock allows the making of locks of a very high safety, for the operation of which it'is This alignment allows the necessary to successively insert more than one key, that is, the intervention of more than one person, for instance, two, three, etc., each owning one key independent from and complementary to the other. For this purpose, two or more stepped notches are arranged in each ward combining the keys so that the rst one elects the lining up of only the rst notch and the blocking plate displaces itself downwards only a partial extent; whilst with the insertion of the -second key, the Wards move themselves towards the second notch allowing another partial movement of the blocking plate and thus, twice, thrice, or any number of times desired, Without it being possible to displace the lock bolts until the blocking plate has attained its maximum displacement, that is until all the keys have been operated. This lock can also be combined with a master key which, in a lsingle insertion, operates the whole wards until the limit is reached and allows the opening of the lock with only one key, all of which is a great advantage in certain cases of safety boxes.

The attached drawings show as an example a preferred constructional form of setting up the lock object of this invention.

" Figure l 4shows a Vertical section View of one lock according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a front view of same.

Figure 3 shows one ofthe wards.

Figure 4 shows the flat key of operation.

Figure 5 shows a modified form of a lock with a plu` rality of notches in the Wards.

` Figure 6 shows a ward corresponding to the lock of the former figure, and .Figure 7 shows a lock with double wards which can be operated from both front and rear sides of one door.

The lock represented in Figs. l and 2, comprises a frame formed by a base plate 1 to which a certain number of f arrears? stud-s or pillars 2 are coupled in order to fasten the front plate 3, parallel to the first one.

Between both plates and parallel to them, `there is the axle 4 supported by the arms 5 of a bracket in U form or of any suitable shape rigidly fixed to the base plate. On this axle a certain number of wards 6 constituted by small plates substantially shovel shaped are articulated, extending vertically upwards and being pivoted at their lower ends.

The wards 6 remain perpendicularly placed in respect to the two plates of the casing of the lock, being able to pivot on their pin a certain magnitude. The upper edge of the ward has a proiile 7 substantially circular with its center in the pivoting pin and, besides, it has a notch 8 placed in each one of the wards in a different part of the edge either at right or at the left. In the upper left part there is a tooth 9 which constitutes a safety device as it will be described afterwards.

The notch 8 of these wards, has a relatively small opening, said opening being placed at a greater `or smaller distance of said tooth 9; the lateral edge opposite to said tooth, that is to say the front edge, preferably has a curved shape 10.

The front plate 3 has an enlarged opening or window 11 extending in front of the front edges of the wards, and carries on its outer face, the tubular piece 12 which con- -stitutes the keyhole for the insertion of the operating key. Said piece, when the lock is to be attached at the rear of the door, is of a length suitable to the thickness of said door and in one of its ends it forms a hole or rectangular groove 13 which opens out into the front plate, whilst in the other end it has a slot 14, of -smaller height, appointed for the insertion of the key, the mentioned rectangular hole 13 reaching this slot. The width of the slot and of the hole is the same and it corresponds to that of all the wards of the lock, generally from eight to ten in number, put together, In the rectangular hole 13 the small plates 15 are housed, placed longitudinally in the same number and with the same thickness as the wards, so that the end of each one of the small plates shoulders against the front end of each one of the wards. Thus the operation is possible with a very short key.

According to the invention, the key for the operation of the lock is constituted by a Hat metal piece 16 which, in one end has an enlargement 17 with an eye 18 to join it to a key ring and in the other end has a series of protruding teeth 19, which jut out longitudinally from the end of the key, said teeth being the same in number as the ward-s and of their same width. This key is arranged to be inserted into the slot, pressing it inwards, each tooth pushing its corresponding ward through the intermediate small plate and displacing the Ward a certain extent attaining thus the lining up in the same plane of all the notches 8 of the wards.

In the inside of the lock casing there is a sliding plate 20 mounted on suitable guides parallel to the mounting plate; this sliding plate is able to displace itself either by gravity or by other means. Said plate, has a bottom edge 21 which is generally supported by the edge 7 of the wards, so that on rocking the wards it slides on their upper edges. This sliding plate 2i) has attached thereto a stud 22 which extends toward the rear side of the plate, passes through a window 23 of the mounting plate of the casing and protrudes in the rear. In said position of the plate, the stud 22 prevents the operation of the lock bolts of the door by means of a handle as it is usual. In this position the lock is locked up.

On inserting a key provided with teeth of the depths corresponding to the situation or the notches in the wards, the latter will pivot lining up all the notches in the same plane and under the sliding plate 20, causing this plate to go downwards a certain magnitude. The stud 22 in its new position does not prevent the operation of the latches and consequently the lock is free.

In order to case the insertion of the key in the correct position, in one of its sides or in both, it has the longitudinal grooves 24 in correspondence with the ribs 25 arranged in the inside parts of the slot 14. If the lock has to be coupled to a thin door or to the outside of same, the keyhole tube 12 may be shorter, it being possible even to eliminate the small plates 1S, placing the teeth of the key directly against the edges of the respective wards. Said wards are submitted to the action of the small spring plates 26 which tend to urge them continually against the opening of the front plate of the lock.

In order to fasten the lock, the sliding plate 20 is displaced upwards by means of a pressure button. Said plate 20 has a block piece 27 solidly connected to it which forms an inclined surface 28. The front plate 3, in front of said surface has a sleeve 29 coupled to guide a rod 30 axially displaceable the end of which is cut on following an inclined plane 31 in correspondence with the angle of inclination of the surface 28. The rod 30 is provided with the pin 32 which moves along a cutway 33 of the guide sleeve 29 limiting the displacement of the rod and preventing its rotation. The outer end of the rod is coupled to a knob or handle 34 with the tubular projection 35 which encases the sleeve 29. Between said knob and the sleeve is housed a spring 36 which tends to push the rod outwards.

When the sliding plate 20 is in its lower position, that is when the lock is unfastened, to fasten it all that is necessary is to press the button 34. With that the inclined end 31 of the rod 3l) is placed against the upper edge of the inclined surface 28 of the block 27 of said plate, the latter being pulled upwards until the bottom edge 21 of the plate becomes detached from the notch of the wards. The wards remain free again and return to their former position due to the action of the spring 26, preventing the downward movement of the sliding plate 20 and keeping the latter blocked in its upper position.

The lock is also provided with a safety device to prevent or make difficult the lining up of the notches of the wards with no key at all with wires or needles. For this purpose, over each one of the wards a rocking dog 37 has been arranged, being all of them rotatably mounted on an axle 3S parallel to the axle 4 of the wards. The dogs 37 extend over each ward in the same plane through an opening 20 of the sliding plate and the bottom edge of each of said dogs is supported by the tooth 9 with which the wards are provided and have two, three, or more teeth 39. Said dogs 37 have an upper tail 40 which acts in cooperation with a transversal rib 41 provided in the sliding plate 20, so that each time the plate goes upwards or downwards, the rib pushes and slightly pulls up the dogs taking them away from their Contact with the wards. If a wire is put into the keyhole pushing one or more wards, the latter remain held by the dogs in a more or less backwards position which does not line up with the plane of the sliding plate, and the ward is not able to go backwards by itself. It is necessary to press the button 34 and to cause the plate 20 to go upwards until its upper limit is reached, so that the lower rib 21 pulls up the dogs and the wards are free to return to their former position.

This system of wards may be combined to be operated with the successive use of two or more different keys. In .this case (Figs. 5 and 6) the wards 42 are provided with a slot or groove 43 which forms two or more steps. preferably shaped as saw teeth 44, i4 and the sliding plate 45 has in its bottom edge a rib or bar 46 over which there is the opening 47. Each one of the steps of the groove ofthe wards forms teeth having a flat edge at the right and left of the groove the opening or pass from one groove to the following being out of vertical alignment with the next opening. The sliding plate 45 does not go downwards to the bottom in a single operation, but on inserting the first key the upper grooves of the wards are lined up and the plate is stopped in the teeth of the first step. On inserting the second key, the wards place themselves in a dilerent position lining up the openings of the second teeth and the plate goes down wards to the following step and thus successively until it arrives at the bottom of the groove. O'n the sliding plate attaining its lower position, the stud with which it is provided, as in the former case, no longer prevents the movement of the latches which are hand operated by any suitable means.

This arrangement is very advantageous in the cases in which it is convenient that a door, for instance of a saiety box, may be opened only with the cooperation of two or more persons. Each one of them would have a key, diterent and complementary to the other, which would have to be inserted successively and in a certain order.

The remounting of the plate to fasten the lock is done in the same way as in the former case.

Another variation consists in a lock which can be opened from the outer and inner parts of a door, for instance, for the doors of a room. In this lock, the wards 48 arranged in the manner already pointed out, have on their bottom edge a projection 49 the left edge 50 of which is approximately symmetrical to the opposite upper edge F10. The wards are mounted to pivot on the pin 51 and each one of them is pushed by the small spring plate 52.

In front of the upper right side of the wards, there is the short length keyhole 53 provided with a slot 54 arranged to receive the key, which acts directly upon the upper side of the wards. In the opposite plate and in front of the bottom left side of the wards, there is a keyhole tube 55 of length suitable to the thickness of the door which it has to pass through, provided in its inside with the small plates 56, as it has been explained above with reference to the earlier modification, and with the slot for the key 57. In this lower keyhole, the key has to be inserted in reverse position from that of the upper keyhole, so that, in both cases, they shall cause exactly the same displacement of the wards and the lock will operate in the appointed way.

According to this modification, the lock can be unfastened either from the outside or from the inside of the door. In order to fasten it, there may be utilized a pressure button in each side, in a similar way to that described with reference to Figure l, or a lever or handle to remount the sliding plate, the whole in combination with an independent and known system to slide the latches or lock bolts which retain the door.

The foregoing description refers to preferential forms of locks according to this invention, but it will nevertheless be understood that all or any of such variations of construction or of detail as do not alter the essential characteristics which will be claimed hereinafter, may be introduced.

I claim:

1. A safety lock comprising a casing, a series of wards constituted by small parallel plates standing in a vertical position and rotatable on a common axis adapted to be pushed by a lateral edge of a ilat key, each of said wards being provided in their upper edge with a groove forming a slot of narrower entrance and broader bottom, said grooves being cut at different places in each ward, a displaceable blocking member placed over the wards and provided with a rib extending transversely to the wards and resting on the upper edge of same, the thickness of said rib permitting the introduction of same into the grooves when all the grooves are aligned by moving the wards, an aperture in said blocking member over said rib as broad as the width of the series of wards, a piece with an inclined surface on said blocking member, an

external push button provided with a stud supported by a tubular guide of the casing acting on the blocking member, said stud having an inclined surface on its inner end which acts when the button is pushed on the inclined surface of the blocking member producing upward displacement of same, a tooth in the upper edge l of each of said wards protruding a greater distance than the thickness of the rib of the blocking member, a dog placed over each ward protruding through the aperture of the blocking member, all the dogs being mounted on a hinge pin parallel to the rocking axle of the wards, each of said dogs being provided in their bottom edge with several small teeth engageable in the tooth of each of the wards when said wards are pushed by means other than a corresponding key, a tail on each dog acting in cooperation with a raised part in the blocking member, said raised part acting on the tails of the dogs and raising same when the blocking member is moved upwards or downwards, permitting the setting of the wards at their initial position.

2. A safety lock as claimed in claim 1, including a keyhole tube extending towards the outside, said tube forming an inner prismatic chamber of a width corresponding to the width of all the wards, said chamber housing a plurality of small adjacent plates of the same number as the wards and acting directly on said wards, one end of said plates being in contact with the lateral edge of the respective ward and the other end resting against the front end of said chamber, said extension tube permitting the use of a short key through any thickness of a door, by means of the direct action of said adjacent plates as intermediate extension of the wards.

3. A safety lock as claimed in claim l, in which said groove of each of said wards forms a deep slot with at least two steps shaped as saw teeth, in both sides of the groove, an opening placed in different planes in each step of same ward, between the teeth of one side and those of the other, said wards being actuatable in cooperation with a determined series of two or more keys successively employed, the rst key of the series being applied against the wards to cause the lining up of the upper groove allowing the displacement 0f the blocking member andthe rib thereof being stopped on the rst step, the second key being applied to cause the lining up of the openings of the teeth of the rst stop, the rib going downwards to the following one, and thus successively until the blocking member reaches its lowest position, said blocking member setting the lock bolts free only in this position.

4. A safety lock as claimed in claim l, in which each ward extends in opposite directions from the rocking axle thus forming a double arm ward with a lower lateral edge symmetrical to the upper lateral edge to which is applied the key passing through a corresponding keyhole in the front wall of the lock casing, a second keyhole in the opposite rear wall of the lock casing in front of said lower lateral edge of the ward, permitting the introduction of the key through said rear wall in an inverted position and the actuation of the wards of the lock from either side of same.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 13,722 Hennes oct. 3o, 1855 19,533 Perkins Mar. 2, 1858 21,994 Thompson Nov. 2, 1858 84,737 Fleischel et al. Dec. 8, 1868 340,319 Jackson Apr. 20, 1886 609,852 Vetere Aug. 30, 1898 1,277,241 Mortensen Aug. 27, 1918 FOREIGN PATENTS 570,211 Germany Feb. 13, 1933 

